Fort Knox is an actual city in Kentucky, and covers three different counties.  The military base was established in April of 1918, as the military was in need of new bases for training soldiers in WWI.  When WWI ended in November of 1918, the base was used as an area to bring the returning troops home to, and then as a peacetime training facility for the Army.

In WWII, in addition to training soldiers, it was used as a POW camp.  Since then, it has undergone different assignments, but continues to be an active base for the Army, and in training soldiers.

The most famous building on Fort Knox is the United States Bullion Depository.  We were surprised by how close to the highway the building is.  The building is not open to the public, and I took the photo was Dan was driving down the highway.

The building is more commonly referred to as the “gold vault”, as it houses the largest portion of the United States gold reserve.  The first gold was brought to the building in 1937, and protected by the 7th Cavalry Brigade.  In addition to gold, during WWII the building housed the Declaration of Independence, the United State Constitution, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, three volumes of the Gutenberg Bible and the Magna Carta.

The James Bond movie Goldfinger was partially filmed at Fort Knox, as Bond prevented Goldfinger from destroying the gold depository.  The most recent movie filmed at Fort Knox was Stripes, with Bill Murray.  In the movie, the base was called Fort Arnold.  The city scenes in the movie were filmed in Louisville.

After Fort Knox, we stopped at the Kentucky Veteran’s Cemetery in Radcliff, KY to see The Kentucky September 11th Memorial.  The memorial was constructed from a piece of steel from the North Tower of the World Trade Center.  The wall behind the steel beam is made of bricks recovered from the Pentagon.

Kentucky 9/11 Memorial

Base of the memorial

Quote for the day:

For me and my family personally, September 11 was a reminder that life is fleeting, impermanent, and uncertain. Therefore, we must make use of every moment and nurture it with affection, tenderness, beauty, creativity, and laughter.

–Deepak Chopra, M.D.